Where small is beautiful

Tiny homes are all the rage in the developed world. The distinction of the tiniest home in the world belongs to a one-square-metre home conceived and designed by Berlin-based architect Van Bo Le- Mentzel. A refugee from Laos, Le Mentzel was obsessed with the concept of a tiny home. When the BMW Guggenheim Lab sponsored a project, he grabbed the opportunity and came up with the concept of a one-square-metre home. Though not as small as this one, the city of Vancouver in Canada, has seen the concept of small homes. A Vancouver developer unveiled 30 micro lofts. Each of these homes are less than 300 square feet or roughly 28 square metres. They are billed as the smallest, self-contained, furnished, rental apartments in Canada. These tiny micro-lofts look like mansions when compared to a flat in London, which measures only 80 square feet. It has been listed on the real estate market at $145,000. Because the world’s metros are now building smaller homes, our homes may begin to look classy.